Pilibhit Tiger Reserve is located in Pilibhit district of Uttar Pradesh and was notified as a tiger reserve in 2014.[1]
It forms part of the Terai Arc Landscape in the upper Gangetic Plain along the India-Nepal border. The habitat is characterized by sal forests, tall grasslands and swamp maintained by periodic flooding from rivers. The Sharda Sagar Dam extending up to a length of 22 km (14 mi) is on the boundary of the reserve.[2]
Pilibhit is one of the few well-forested districts in Uttar Pradesh. According to an estimate of the year 2018, Pilibhit district has over 800 km2 (310 sq mi) forests, constituting roughly 23% of the district’s total area. Forests in Pilibhit have at least 65 tiger and a prey including five species of deer. The tiger reserve got the first International award TX2 for doubling the tiger population in a stipulated time.[3]
History
The protected area used to be a timber yielding reserve forest, until it was declared as the 46th tiger reserve in June 2014.[1]
Geography
The northeastern boundary of the reserve is the River Sharda, which forms the Indo-Nepal border, while the southwest boundary is marked by the River Sharda and the River Ghaghara. Pilibhit Tiger Reserve consists of a core area of 602.79 km2 (232.74 sq mi) and a buffer area of 127.45 km2 (49.21 sq mi) in its periphery. The core area is restricted for human habitation, but there is some amount of disturbance due to traffic on roads passing through the reserve, people collecting forest resources and livestock grazing.[4] A wildlife corridor links Pilibhit Tiger Reserve with Jim Corbett National Park, Kishanpur Wildlife Sanctuary and Dudhwa National Park, and Shuklaphanta National Park in Nepal.[4]
